1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to software for low vision users. More specifically, it relates to a screen magnifier application that automatically adjusts speech output verbosity based on how a user arrives at an object's focus.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Personal computers and the Internet greatly enhanced communications and access to information from around the world. Typically, visual information is displayed upon a monitor screen and data can be added or manipulated via keystrokes upon an associated keyboard. Feedback is provided visually to the user by the monitor screen. Blind users cannot utilize the information appearing upon the monitor screen while visually impaired users may experience difficulty doing so. Accordingly, screen readers have been developed to assist blind and visually impaired users when they use a personal computer.
A screen reader is software which interprets the output of a computer as sent to a computer screen and converts it into alternative output. Typically, the alternative output is in the form of synthetic speech or Braille characters. Screen readers are particularly useful for a blind or low vision user. One such screen reader is JAWS for Windows developed and sold by Freedom Scientific, Inc., based in St. Petersburg, Fla. When installed upon a personal computer, JAWS provides access to the operating system, software applications and the Internet. JAWS includes a speech synthesizer that cooperates with the sound card in the personal computer to read aloud information appearing upon the computer monitor screen or that is derived through communicating directly with the application or operating system. Thus, JAWS provides access to a wide variety of information, education and job related applications. Additionally, JAWS includes an interface that can provide output to refreshable Braille displays. It should be noted that reference to JAWS is made as an example of a screen reader but the novel and non-obvious software media and methods claimed herein are applicable to screen readers as a whole.
In addition to screen reading, low vision individuals often require magnification of computer screen interfaces to discern text and images. Magnification systems may be built into the operating system itself or may comprise feature-rich, third-party products such as those sold under the MAGIC brand also manufactured by Freedom Scientific, Inc. Screen readers and screen magnifiers may work in conjunction so that both interoperate to provide a full array of features to the end user.
One of many useful features that screen readers provide to low-vision end users is the ability to output a description of a control on a graphic user interface. For example, as a user navigates a screen the various buttons, menus, and lists are announced to the user by speech output controlled by the screen reader software. However, the current state of the art outputs the same description regardless as to how to the user arrived at the particular control in the graphic user interface.
Speech output is a double-edged sword to the end user. When needed, it provides the necessary information for the user to understand the context and identity of the graphic user interface control. However, when it is not needed, the speech output becomes a distraction which the end user typically mutes with a keystroke. An end user that navigates about a graphic user interface may invoke the screen reader's speech output seemingly on a continual basis . . . some of the output necessary and some of the output unnecessary.
What is needed in the art is for the screen reader software to evaluate how the end user navigated to a control on the graphic user interface and automatically adjust the verbosity of the speech output to better convey an optimal amount of information to the end user.
However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the field of this invention how the shortcomings of the prior art could be overcome.